This invention relates to surface mountable diodes which can readily be surface mounted in a minimum of space and with a minimum of complexity.
Diodes are in widespread use as transient suppression devices, rectifiers, light sources, light detectors, and voltage references. In many applications it is important to be able to surface mount a diode directly to a surface such as a circuit board without wire leads or the like. In particular, when bipolar or unipolar zener diodes are used as transient suppression devices, high mounting density is often of key importance.
The present invention is directed to improved diodes which do not require wire leads and which can readily be made in extremely small sizes to minimize mounting space requirements.